Among the 11 public services covered in the survey, the Police is the most corrupt. An overwhelming 80% of those who had interacted with the department had paid bribe. Further three fourths of those who had interacted with Police department in the last one year are not happy with the services. No wonder, 88% perceive the department to be corrupt.
Judiciary (lower courts) and Land administration are the next most corrupt public services. In Judiciary, of those who paid bribe, 41% had paid to influence judgment, 31% to speed up or delay judgment, 28% to get routine jobs like listing of case or to get copy of documents.
In Land Administration, of those who paid bribe, nearly half had paid for property transaction related issues (valuation of property, payment to registrars etc), 36% paid to get property documents or for mutation and 12% for clearing or settling tax dues.
In Municipal Services, nearly three fourth of those who paid bribe for approval of building plan or modifications (53%) and tax related issues (22%).
Nearly two thirds of people surveyed perceived that the Income Tax department to be corrupt. In spite of this the department is low in the Corruption Index score. This is because the survey was limited to individual assesses who had apparently not encountered much corruption.
Among Basic services the Government Hospitals are the most corrupt public services. The corruption in the department is mostly to do with non-availability of medicines, getting admission into hospitals, consultation with doctors and availing of diagnostic services.
Electricity service is the second most corrupt among Basic public services. Nearly 65% of the corruption involves issues of billing and grant of new connection.
PDS figures lower in the corruption index score because the problems of common man dealing with service is more to do with leakages in the system rather direct monetary corruption.
Water supply services have low corruption score. This could be because water tariff in the most states is not consumption based or it is nominal as well. Therefore, there is limited scope for corruption. However, the corruption in the service is limited to certain areas like release of new connections, availing the service of water tankers and ensuring more supply of water.
Among the states, Kerala was found to be the least corrupt in public services with the next four positions being taken by Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. On the other side of the spectrum, Bihar was found to be the most corrupt state, closely followed by Jammu & Kashmir.
Total monetary value of petty corruption nationally in 11 services is estimated at Rs. 21,068 crore.
Suggested Solutions
Basic Services
More competition: Replacing public monopolies with private monopolies is not likely to lead to significantly lower corruption level. However, there is need to facilitate greater competition in provision of services where ever possible.
Allot funds on outcome basis: Funds allocated to various departments should be linked to outcomes. For example, in schools various indicators like enrollment rates, absence of children, dropout rates, results in board exams, can be used.